Heart of Darkness

Much great fiction is focused on man’s capacity for evil. Perhaps you have read Joseph Conrad’s famous 1899 novel, “Heart of Darkness“. The narrator, Marlow, is a steamer captain who journeys up the Congo river in central Africa, to find a deranged ivory trader who has “gone native”. Or, you may have seen the critically acclaimed 1979 film, “Apocalypse Now” (directed by Francis Ford Coppola), set during the Vietnam war but based on Conrad’s book. Marlon Brando plays Colonel Walter Kurtz, a US army colonel turned dystopian dictator at a remote outpost in Cambodia. In both versions of the story, the manifestations of civilization are progressively stripped away to reveal a world in which human cruelty is unleashed.

The evil in man’s soul can be tapped in all sorts of ways, even in the context of the material comforts and rule of law enjoyed within the “civilized” world. An efficient psychological highway into the heart of darkness runs through territory familiar to us today: Grievance. A sense of victimhood engendered by perceived or actual humiliation. Grievance related to punitive World War I reparations is often invoked to explain the widespread support of German citizens for the genocidal Nazi regime of the 1930’s.

From victimhood to victim creation

Now ascendant in the USA is a movement whose unifying concept is grievance. After 2 months in power, how is the MAGA movement governing? With increasing cruelty. Contempt and arbitrary dismissal for thousands who have served in government jobs, regardless of their actual performance. Baseless and damaging economic attack on our nations’ closest ally with denigration of its sovereignty. Attempted public humilation of Ukraine’s president by forcing him to accept the blame for the invasion and destruction of his own county.

In response, grievance is rising among those hurt and humiliated by the new administration. An example close to home: A few days ago researchers at my university organized a demonstration in San Francisco against the White House’s anti-science agenda, from NIH funding freezes to anti-vaccine leadership in the Department of Health and Human Services.

Be persuasive…

How might MAGA voters react to angry anti-Trump demonstrators in the streets of our much-caricatured city? Would they find it convincing? More likely, they would first notice the venue then feel the familiar antipathy towards “elites” and “radicals”.

If those pro-science demonstrators wanted to maximize their impact, they would do better to engage persistently and calmly with their political opponents – on those opponents’ home turf. University presidents and science leaders should be on right-wing news media to argue for the benefits brought to all by scientific research – while having the humility to acknowledge mistakes of “scientific” public policy, such as keeping schools closed for too long during the Covid-19 pandemic. Try blunt but respectful lobbying of wavering Republican senators – not badgering Democratic ones to urge them to “fight like hell”. Our arguments are sound. Let’s get them out of the echo chamber.

Rather than aggrieved

To avoid our own sense of victimhood, it is helpful for those of us appalled at Trumpism to own up to our role in creating it. We didn’t notice, or listen to, those citizens not benefitting from modernity. We didnt appreciate that the culture wars promoted by the left offend middle America. We often fail to realize that our success is only partly due to our own efforts, a blind spot that is itself an unwitting condescension toward the less lucky.

No more grievance, please. It might feel good in the moment: Angry demonstrations, Congressional fights producing government shut-downs, trading of insults with our “enemy”, all while glued to MSNBC. But the evil and cruelty within humankind has never been far from the surface. A few more cycles of hatred will launch us on a well-chronicled journey that we do not wish to take.